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The Unconscious in Shakespeare's Plays book cover

1st Edition

The Unconscious in Shakespeare's Plays

By Martin S. Bergmann Copyright 2013
    294 Pages
    by Routledge

    294 Pages
    by Routledge

    294 Pages
    by Routledge
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    Just as concerts emerge from the interaction of many instruments, so our understanding of Shakespeare is enriched by different approaches to him. Psychoanalysis assumes that creative writers have the need to both reveal and conceal their own inner conflicts in their works. They leave residues in their works that, if we pay attention, can become building blocks that reveal aspects of the unconscious. Readers may find that the questions raised add to the pleasure of reading Shakespeare and that they deepens their understanding of his plays. Topics covered include the pivotal position of Hamlet, the poet and his calling, the Oedipus complex, intrapsychic conflict, the battle against paranoia and the homosexual compromise. By using psychoanalytic techniques in analyzing his plays and characters, the author reveals more about Shakespeare's hidden motivations and mental health.

    Preface: Why this book was written , The Pivotal Position of Hamlet , Hamlet’s Enigmas , Hamlet: the inability to mourn and the inability to love , The Poet and his Calling , A Midsummer Night’s Dream: how Shakespeare won the right to write plays , The Tempest: the abdication of creativity , Timon of Athens: the loss of creativity , The Oedipus Complex , Richard III: the Oedipus complex and the villain , Julius Caesar and Freud’s Totem and Taboo , Macbeth: an audacious variant on the oedipal theme , Antony and Cleopatra: dangerous dotage , Coriolanus: an astounding description of a destructive mother–child relationship , King Lear: the daughter as a replacement for the mother , Richard II: abdication as a father’s reaction to the Oedipus complex , Intrapsychic Conflict , Measure for Measure: the disintegration of a harsh superego , The Battle Against Paranoia , Othello: motiveless malignity or latent homosexuality? , The Winter’s Tale: latent homosexuality and paranoia , The Homosexual Compromise , The Merchant of Venice: a portrayal of masochistic homosexuality , Twelfth Night: a sublimation of bisexuality in homosexuality

    Biography

    Martin S Bergmann

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